Recipes

Mission olives have grown in Santa Clara Valley since 1790. So I harvested the Mission olives from the Campo de Brezo estate (inside joke) in Almaden Valley. I selected the ripe black olives and dry-cured them in kosher salt for two months. Next I oil-cured some of the dry-cured olives with rosemary, orange zest, and olive oil. The flavor is …

Recipe courtesy of Marcela Valladolid of Food Network. A great use for your Poblano chiles. Total Time: 35 min Prep: 20 min Cook: 15 min Yield:6 servings Level:Easy Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/marcela-valladolid/stuffed-poblano-chiles-chiles-rellenos-recipe.html?oc=linkback

This roasted feijoa chutney is a excellent kind of spicy relish. The feijoa add that tropical fruit aroma and taste. The chili adds some heat. The other ingredients add the indian flavors.

Cut apricots in half. Cook in syrup. Can in hot bath. Details to follow. Because fruit has low acidity, it is very important to sterilize everything and to follow the times in the boiling bath. Made with apricots

Pesto is so versatile, you’ll never run out of ways to enjoy it. Toss spoonfuls of this no-cook sauce with hot pasta or steamed vegetables, use it as a spread on sandwiches and wraps, or serve as a dip with raw veggies or pita chips. You can easily adapt pesto to your budget by substituting sale-priced nuts, herbs/greens and cheese, …

This Green Pork Chile is a variation on a Bobby Flay recipe.In the summer, when tomatillos and peppers are fresh, I would make the slow salsa. At other times of the year, use the quick salsa.

In October I harvested Mission olives from a tree. The ripe black olives I packed into coarse salt (dry-cure). The green unripe olives I placed in a salt-brine. It’s now November and the black olives have cured (the salt has leached out the oleuropin compound that makes them bitter). The black olives are now shrunken and wrinkled. They will keep …

In October 2015, I harvested around 4 gallons of Mission olives. Most of them I brine-cured. The ripe olives I am dry-curing using just coarse kosher salt. Why not use regular salt? Because dry-cured olives are very salty and regular table-salt contains iodine (to prevent iodine deficiency)  and too much of a good thing is bad. I am dry-curing them …

I decided that 2015 was the year to home-cure olives. I visited my parent’s home in Almaden Valley in south Santa Clara County. Their neighbor has a large Mission olive tree that generously drapes over the fence. Olives cannot be consumed without curing. All olives contain oleuropein, a glucoside compound, that tastes very bitter. You have to cure them using …

A perfect use for your beefsteak tomato: a California BLT Avocado Bacon Lettuce A beefsteak tomato (in this case: a Mortgage Lifter) Mayonaisse Sourdough bread – toasted